stevesbets

For all of you out there that want poker content from me, NOW is your chance. Watch me Friday May 7 at:

http://www.pokerstars.tv/poker-video-5412-scoop-2010-live-webcast-with-stevesbets-may-7-5pm-et.html?channel_id=134

come ask me questions

“Rare to open Sports Illustrated and see something on the Sixers, but it’s there this week. On the “Inside the NBA” page, Chris Mannix has a small item in which he quotes an unnamed Western Conference scout talking about the Sixers. Here it is:

“They are having dunk contests before games; they are running plays sloppily or not all the way through; and they aren’t listening to (coach) Eddie Jordan. They have quit. They know Eddie is gone (after the season) and they think they don’t have to listen anymore. The thing is, they are making themselves look like a——-. These guys think that just because Eddie is gone they will be back (next year). But nobody wants guys who give up when things go bad. Eddie’s offense was a bad fit for this roster – they have to find a way to play more up-tempo – but these guys are embarrassing themselves. And everyone around the league knows it.”

There you have it. Thoughts?”

Source:

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sixerville/Scout_disses_Sixers_in_Sports_Illustrated.html

Read this

“In 2007, a 19-year-old gang-rape victim in the Saudi city of Qatif was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison for meeting with an unrelated male.”

I have been asked by multiple people to blog about the tragedy in Haiti. Rather than offer my opinion, I would like to send you to a New York Times link that I totally agree with here

My favorite passage: Haiti, like most of the world’s poorest nations, suffers from a complex web of progress-resistant cultural influences. There is the influence of the voodoo religion, which spreads the message that life is capricious and planning futile. There are high levels of social mistrust. Responsibility is often not internalized. Child-rearing practices often involve neglect in the early years and harsh retribution when kids hit 9 or 10.

We’re all supposed to politely respect each other’s cultures. But some cultures are more progress-resistant than others, and a horrible tragedy was just exacerbated by one of them.

At the time that article was written 45-50k people had died from the earthquake, presently the death toll is around 150k. That is a devastating number for a fairly routine earthquake. I get depressed with humanity when I think that if people were a bit more intelligent and a bit less corrupt such tragedies could be substantially diminished. Thinking about human failures can twist my mind horribly and endlessly so I mostly just hope that people get lucky and horrors like this earthquake can be mostly avoided.